Squad news

TINO FERNÁNDEZ TALKS OF THE WINTER MARKET

02 Feb 2018Depor’s president admitted that the team isn’t fulfilling the expectations, but denied that the club has failed to sign the proper reinforcements in the winter window; actually he said that the global valorization is positive.

Deportivo remain without a sporting director, so president Tino Fernández was the one that came out in order to face the media one day after the closure of the winter window. He didn’t want to admit that the sporting direction has failed taking in mind the current situation in la liga, and also explained the cases with the wished defensive midfielder, Gerard Valentín, Andone and Çolak. Depor’s boss also admitted that the club could sign a free agent. The following is a summary of the things he said.

Analysis of the market: “The global valorization is positive. Surely we could have made more things, and we tried to do something more, but you need to valorize what we did in the market since January 1. I believe we have improved the level of the team with the arrivals and exits. It’s also true that we tried to sign another player, but we didn’t find what we wanted and we aren’t going to sign just for the pleasure of doing it. We neither have too many money. We could have offered loans with buyout options, and also players rescinded like the cases with Krohn-Dehli and Bóveda.”

Is the team affected by not signing a defensive midfielder? “I don’t think so. We went out in the pre-season thinking that we had a good squad and we still thinking the same. We didn’t make a revolution, only adjustments according to the possibilities, and I believe we did it. We have three good players and are satisfied.”

Didn’t Depor fail in signing a new defensive midfielder, which was a priority? “I don’t recall saying that the arrival of a centre midfielder was a priority. We always talked of a right-back, a goalkeeper and a defensive midfielder. You need real options, to see them wanting to come and their club wanting to allow their exits, it must also fit with the money we have available and the approval of the coaches in order to have those players. We don’t want to fill the papers with news of signings, the objective was to improve the performance of the squad.”

Failures in previous years: “Last year we made two signings, Ola John and Kakuta, and they didn’t have an impact, and what we must seek is to see them having an impact. There was also a change at the goal, but it was because Rubén wanted to go out in order to have minutes. We must look at the past and realize that many of the winter signings don’t end having an impact. We thought a lot about these three signings, and what I want to emphasize is that the two coming from Spain are coming from top clubs”

The arrival of Kóval from a foreign league: “A lot was said about Spanish keepers in this market, beyond the third keeper of Celta going to Levante, the true is that there wasn’t any single operation made inside the league. Within the offers that we had of keepers, our own coaches told us that the best bet for the goal was Maksím Kóval. Unfortunately he doesn’t speak Spanish and is a different profile.”

Signing a free agent? “We haven’t ruled out the chance of signing anyone. If something interesting comes, Babel came as a free agent and it can happen again. But it’s a nonsense to get somebody just to fill the papers, we need someone that can have an impact, it’s a nonsense to bring somebody that will be out of the rosters and that will end been toxic. He must add and the club must be convinced that it can happen.”

Missing the goal of the season: “We recognize that something has been done wrongly. It wasn’t our goal to be here, clearly something was done wrong, in other case we wouldn’t be here. We were expecting to grow, and we didn’t do it. I consider that the adjustments made in this market were the correct ones. I understand the disappointment. I can only ask to continue supporting. This can be fixed. We still have to play seven games against rivals in the same zone. Clearly the results of the first team aren’t the expected ones, and we have a responsibility in this. Doing the same thing we will get the same results, so we need to do different things. We need adjustments, not revolutions.”

The exit of Bruno Gama: “Yes, we allowed the exit of Bruno Gama in order to have room with the salary cap, this in case if something interesting shows up. It wasn’t the option that I liked the most, but it was the only one.”

Arribas: “The player was upset with his situation, we valorized that we have three good centre-backs and it was the decision made by the club and the coaches. And it was the money that allowed us to make the signings in the winter window. It was around one and a half million euros.”

Çolak: “The coach didn’t present any report as he thought he could manage the case by himself. So, the sense is of normality. There wasn’t any intention in allowing his exit.”

Andone: “We didn’t have any offer for 12 million. What we always wanted is to see him staying and we didn’t everything we could for it. It isn’t true that we had a late offer for Andone. The only offer was coming from Brighton. We want to improve the contract of Andone, because we want him to stay for more years.”

Gerard Valentín: “Gerard Valentín didn’t want to go out. It happens the same with the arrivals: you need their motivation. I think it was good to see him going out in order to have minutes, but perhaps he thinks it is better to stay here. There isn’t a problem if he doesn’t want to leave.”

The new sporting direction: “We will launch a process in order to design the new sporting direction. There are offers and we have a criterion. Since this moment we will analyse proposals, it’s not a matter of persons, but proposals, which means procedures and methods. Those models will be valorised and we will make a decision.”

The goal for the remaining of the season: “The goal of the team is the salvation. I don’t deny what I said before, we need to grow and make step in order to live different situations. We cannot be thinking that we are here only to get the salvation, but things are different now. Still, I think we had a project to be higher.”

Would Parralo leave if Depor lose at Anoeta? “We aren’t thinking of changing the coach. We are content with him. We believe he is making a serious work. We aren’t thinking of changing Cristóbal no matter what happens tomorrow.”